In the three years that I’ve been with CHIRP this is the first year that I can say that I genuinely felt like the majority of the albums I listened to were excellent. Not just good, not just fair, but excellent. As a result, this was the hardest list I’ve had to compile yet. It pains me when I think of all the worthy albums I’m leaving off either because I haven’t full absorbed them yet, or because I just haven’t gotten around to checking them out. The first couple of weeks of 2020 are going to be spent doing some major catch up listening and I really relish the opportunity to do a deep dive into everything 2019 had to offer.

That’s not to say that 2019 didn’t have its duds though. While there were hundreds of phenomenal albums released this year for our listening pleasure, roughly half of the albums I was actually anticipating checking out ended up being either mediocre (Sudan Archives, Angel Olsen), not up to the artist’s potential (Pivot Gang, Chance the Rapper, Sleater-Kinney), “Whelp, we did an album” low-effort affairs (Tacocat), bed sh*tting embarrassments (In Flames, Fallujah), or boring to the point of feeling like a personal insult (Sun O)))). But, this is not about what I didn’t like, this is a celebration of what made 2019 a landmark year in music. So before I get all needlessly hung up on negativity, allow me to introduce my top 10 (plus 40ish) albums of the year.

I hope this list inspires you to check out some of the albums I’ve written about, or at least introduces you to an artist you didn’t realize you needed in your life (or just listen to whatever you like, it doesn’t bother me either way). Enjoy!

If there was one success of 2019, it was how much good music was released this year. Many new artists emerged and established artists pushed their crafts. This is a selection of releases that held steady spots in my heavy rotation. Many of the albums below are emotional, powerful, and ones I definitely danced (and cried) to at some point throughout the year.

There was A LOT of great music released in 2019, so whittling it down to 10 albums was a tough task, but ultimately these selections all found their way onto the list because they spoke to me in one way or another; they introduced me to something new, they told a genuinely compelling story, they were honest and raw and full of emotion, or they simply just made me want to dance and sing over and over again.